I read Barbara Drake’s first book, Peace at Heart: An Oregon Country Life, an Oregon Book Award finalist back in 1999, a number of years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. I was most excited to see that she had a new book about her life in the Willamette Valley and I dove right in. I love reading books about “place,” especially when the author is so gifted that you feel their joys, their sorrows, the quiet moments, hear the birds, smell the drying grasses, and Drake is such an author. Books like this are like balm for for the soul; peaceful reading. Drake writes about aging, whether it be the stately oaks on their property, their dogs, their well or herself and her husband, with much grace and poignancy. Only when you have lived IN place for many years, have a keen eye and a voice to give it justice can you write a book like this. It has been a while between books, but well worth the wait.
— Sue, Paulina Springs Books, Sisters and Redmond, OR